


Femicide

by KingHippiedude (missreader)



Series: Gender and Violence Community Activism Project [3]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Domestic Violence, F/M, Femicide, Homicide, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Murder
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-06
Updated: 2015-11-06
Packaged: 2018-04-30 06:53:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5154392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/missreader/pseuds/KingHippiedude
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bruce remembers his mother.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Femicide

**Author's Note:**

> Please read the tags. This fic does contain some somewhat graphic violent imagery. If that is an issue for you, please be aware and perhaps skip this fic.
> 
> This fic (and the others in the collection) was written for a school project. If you could please leave a comment after you read so that I can prove to my professor that I reached people it would be much appreciated. Thanks!

Bruce promised himself that he would never forget his mother. Some of the memories had faded over the years, but he still remembered the smell and taste of the cookies she would bake on Fridays afternoons when Bruce got home from school. He remembered the way she would smile through her tears and try to comfort Bruce on nights when his father was particularly angry. He remembered the colors of the bruises that painted her skin like watercolors most days. He remembered the warmth of her hugs and the smell of her soap.

But the one memory he would never forget, the one which still played in technicolor behind his eyelids some days, was the day his mother died. The night before his father had come home from work drunk and angry, and the day she died, his mother’s skin was purple with bruises in the shape of his father’s hands. When Bruce got home from school that afternoon there were no cookies. Instead, his mother was waiting with bags packed. She smiled at him and told him that they were going to visit his aunt. Bruce picked up one of the bags and followed his mother to the car. He waited in the car while she went back into the house to grab the rest of the bags. 

But his father arrived home early while his mother was still in the house. And he was angry. When he realized what she was doing, Bruce’s father grabbed his mother by her hair and swung her around. Bruce was frozen in place in the car. His father slammed his mother to the ground again and again and again. Bruce saw blood spill from her head. And when his father dropped her body for the last time, stepping away and kicking her corpse, Bruce un-froze. He opened the car door on the far side from his father and he ran to one of his neighbors’ houses where he knew people would be home.

Everything after that was a blur. Bruce knew that his neighbor called 911 and that his father was arrested, having been caught literally red-handed with his mother’s blood. Bruce was taken to an aunt’s house. He wasn’t sure if she was the aunt his mother had planned on going to see. Bruce didn’t really know his extended family. But she gave him a place to sleep and kept him away from his father. And Bruce swore to himself that night that he would never forget his mother, would never be like his father.

**Author's Note:**

> Femicide - the killing of women - is a serious issue in Intimate Partner Violence. Nearly half of the women murdered in the US every year are killed by an intimate partner.
> 
> Statistics on fatal domestic violence are available from the [US Department of Justice](http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/fvs03.pdf). More information and resources for victims of intimate partner violence can be found on the [The National Domestic Violence Hotline website](http://www.thehotline.org/).


End file.
